Scottish Executive

Ambulance Service

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what support it plans to give to the Scottish Ambulance Service and, in particular, to the ambulance service in Lanarkshire to help them to overcome any problems they currently face.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take in respect of ambulance services in Lanarkshire given that, in the first nine days of July 2002, 25% of shifts in that area were not covered.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive has provided the Scottish Ambulance Service with an allocation of £108.783 million for 2002-03, an increase of 7.4% on last year. The indicative allocations for 2003-04 and 2004-05 provide for further uplifts of 7.4% in each year. These represent unprecedented levels of investment and reflect our support for the service's modernisation agenda.

  Across Scotland these increased resources will support the improvement of the service's operations rooms functions, the roll-out of priority based dispatch, the conversion of a number of part-time ambulance stations to full-time and the introduction of dedicated non-emergency transport services for renal dialysis patients. The service plans to employ around 200 additional staff over the next two years to support these developments.

  How these improvements are rolled-out across Scotland and how these additional staff are deployed are operational matters for the Scottish Ambulance Service and its divisions. For Lanarkshire, this means an additional 10 accident and emergency staff this financial year to help alleviate the problems of uncovered shifts. They will be fully trained and operational by mid-September. Over the next two years, the service will also be providing an additional 24 front-line paramedic vehicle crew staff for priority based dispatch. These two initiatives represent a 23% increase in current staff establishment. Another step which has been taken in Lanarkshire is the introduction of revised shift rotas to provide more effective cover. These rotas are constantly reviewed to ensure that resources match demand. The merger of the Glasgow and Motherwell operations (control) rooms (at Glasgow) in October will also allow for better deployment of emergency ambulances in the Lanarkshire area, since the merger will enable the operations rooms staff to know immediately where the emergency resources are across the area.

  The Scottish Executive monitors the performance of the Scottish Ambulance Service and holds the service to account through the Accountability Review process supported by the Performance Assessment Framework. The issues surrounding performance within the West Central Division, including Lanarkshire, were discussed at the Accountability Review meeting on Monday 5 August 2002. Response times performance across the six divisions of the service shall continue to be monitored by the department.

Ambulance Service

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many ambulance paramedics have been trained in each of the last five years.

Malcolm Chisholm: In 1996-97, there were 332 paramedics working in the Scottish Ambulance Service. At 31 March 2002, this figure had increased to 750. This equates to an average of 83 technicians trained to paramedic level in each of the last five years.

Ambulance Service

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many paramedics (a) are required by the Scottish Ambulance Service at (i) minimum and (ii) full operating strength and (b) the service has currently.

Malcolm Chisholm: At 31 March 2002, the Scottish Ambulance Service had 750 paramedics against a total accident and emergency establishment of 1,791. One of the service’s objectives is to have a paramedic on every frontline accident and emergency ambulance by March 2005. The service has in place a paramedic training programme and is currently on course to achieve this objective.

Civil Servants

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many policy analysts (a) it employs currently, broken down by department and (b) it has employed in each year since 1999.

Mr Andy Kerr: Numbers of policy analysts (administration grade C1) broken down by department are given in the following table.

  Count of permanent admin C1 officers, Scottish Executive core departments, by department, as at 1 April 2002

   
Department  Count
 Total 259
 Finance and Central Services
41  Environment 
and Rural Affairs 41
 Development
39  Health
35  Enterprise 
and Lifelong Learning  32
 Education
28  Justice
17  Corporate Services
16  Ministerial 
Group 4 
Centrally Managed Staff 6


  Numbers of policy analysts (administration grade C1) employed between 1999 and 2002 are given in the following table.

  Count of permanent admin C1 officers, Scottish Executive core departments as at 1 April 1999 - 2002

  
 Year Count
 1999 217
 2000 227
 2001 234
 2002 259

Civil Servants

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many policy analysts were employed by the Scottish Office in each year from 1995 to 1999.

Mr Andy Kerr: Numbers of policy analysts (administration grade C1) employed between 1995 and 1999 are given in the following table.

  Count of admin C1 officers, Scottish Office core departments. As at 1 April 1995 - 1999

  
 Year Count
 1995 152
 1996 164
 1997 171
 1998 177
 1999 217

Ferry Services

George Lyon (Argyll and Bute) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Public Service Obligation on the Orkney, Shetland and Aberdeen ferry routes cover passengers, vehicles and commercial vehicles and, if not, what category of traffic does it cover on these routes.

Lewis Macdonald: The approved services that are eligible for subsidy on these routes are restricted to passengers and accompanied cars.

Ferry Services

George Lyon (Argyll and Bute) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any unsubsidised operators are currently operating on the Orkney, Shetland and Aberdeen routes.

Lewis Macdonald: There is no central record of shipping services provided within Scotland. However, the Executive is aware that there are no unsubsidised passenger ferries operating between Orkney, Shetland and Aberdeen and that other operators provide an unsubsidised freight service over these routes on either a scheduled or an ad hoc basis.

Marine Environment

Mr Keith Harding (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking on the location and regulation of marine developments and what plans it has to carry out a review of developments in coastal and marine waters, similar to that being conducted by the Department of Transport in England and Wales.

Allan Wilson: The Scottish Executive is committed to ensuring the sustainable use of marine resources and to improving the regulatory regime in the marine and coastal area by simplifying administrative arrangements. A number of initiatives in this field have already been undertaken, or are on-going, such as the review of aquaculture regulation and the Water Environment and Water Services Bill.

  The review of regulation of development in coastal and marine waters in England and Wales is of close interest to the Scottish Executive, as the Executive has devolved responsibility for the main legislation which the review will cover. The Executive is monitoring the progress of the review, in particular through our representation on the review forum, and will consider the possible implications of the process and findings for Scotland.

NHS Staff

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the whole-time equivalent complement of cardiac surgeons (a) is currently and (b) has been in each of the last three years in each NHS board area, expressed on a per capita basis.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: Information on the whole-time equivalent of consultants in the specialties of cardio-thoracic surgery and general surgery is shown in the following table.

  Highly specialised cardiac surgery will be undertaken by consultants working in the specialty of cardio-thoracic surgery. These consultants can and do offer services to patients from NHS board areas other than the one at which they are based. Consultants in general surgery will also perform general surgical procedures in the thoracic region. The ratio of consultants in cardio-thoracic surgery to head of population does not therefore necessarily reflect the level of consultant surgical service available in any area.

  Consultants in Cardio-thoracic Surgery and General Surgery in NHSScotland Whole-time Equivalent per 100,000 Population at 30 September, by NHS Board

  
 
Cardio-thoracic Surgery
General Surgery  1998
1999 2000
20012,3 1998
1999 2000
20012,3 
Scotland  0.4
0.4 0.4
0.5 3.5
3.6 3.8
3.8  Argyll and 
Clyde  -
- -
- 3.4
3.4 4.0
3.8  Ayrshire and 
Arran  -
- -
0.3 3.1
2.9 3.2
3.1  Borders 
- -
- -
3.8 3.8
3.7 3.7
 Dumfries and Galloway 
- -
- -
2.7 2.7
2.7 2.7
 Fife  -
- -
- 2.8
3.0 3.0
2.1  Forth Valley 
 -
- -
- 3.3
2.8 2.9
3.6  Grampian 
0.6 0.6
0.8 0.8
2.9 3.0
3.4 3.9
 Greater Glasgow 
1.1 1.2
1.1 1.2
3.9 4.3
4.2 4.2
 Highland 
- -
- -
4.8 5.3
5.3 5.3
 Lanarkshire 
0.4 0.4
0.4 0.4
2.7 3.1
3.1 3.4
 Lothian 
0.6 0.5
0.5 0.8
4.0 3.7
3.6 3.9
 Orkney 
- -
- -
5.1 10.2
10.3 10.3
 Shetland 
- -
- -
8.7 4.4
4.5 4.5
 Tayside 
- -
- -
4.1 4.6
4.7 4.7
 Western Isles 
- -
- -
3.6 3.6
7.4 7.4


  Source: Medical and Dental Census, ISD Scotland (Staff data); Registrar General for Scotland (Population Estimates).

  Notes:

  1. Population estimates are at mid-June each year.

  2. Population estimates for 2001 are not yet available and so estimates for 2000 have been used instead.

  3. Staffing information for 30 September 2001 is provisional.

  4. Includes honorary appointments.

Prison Service

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-26856 by Mr Jim Wallace on 18 July 2002, whether any reduction in staff following the contracting out of prisoner escorts was taken into account in estimating the number of staff required for the 700-place prison in the public sector comparator model.

Mr Jim Wallace: No, because the comparable private sector option excludes escorts.

Road Accidents

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many road accidents occurred on the Stirling to Ballat Cross stretch of the A811 in 2001.

Lewis Macdonald: Data about injury road accidents are collected by the police and reported to the Scottish Executive using the STATS 19 statistical report form. These returns cover only road accidents in which one or more people were injured: they do not cover damage only accidents.

  During 2001, there were 15 injury road accidents that were identified in the STATS 19 returns as occurring on the A811 between its junction with the A81 at Ballat Cross and the centre of Stirling.

  It should be noted that this figure is based upon the data which are held in the central statistical database and which were collected by the police at the time of the accident and subsequently reported to the Executive. It may differ from any figure which the local authority would provide now, because it does not take account of any subsequent changes or corrections that the local authority may have made to the statistical information, for use at local level, about the location of each accident, based upon its knowledge of the road and area concerned.

Road Accidents

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many road accidents occurred on the B818 between Boquhan and Carron Valley in each of the last five years.

Lewis Macdonald: Data about injury road accidents are collected by the police and reported to the Scottish Executive using the STATS 19 statistical report form. These returns cover only road accidents in which one or more people were injured, they do not cover damage only accidents.

  The following table gives the numbers of injury road accidents which were identified in the STATS 19 returns as occurring on the stretch of the B818 between its junction with the A875 near Boquhan and the crossroads at Carron Bridge, in the five years 1997 to 2001 inclusive.

  It should be noted that the statistics given are based upon the data which are held in the central statistical database and which were collected by the police at the time of the accident and subsequently reported to the Executive. They may differ from any figures which the local authority would provide now, because they do not take account of any subsequent changes or corrections that the local authority may have made to the statistical information, for use at local level, about the location of each accident, based upon its knowledge of the road and area concerned.

  Number of Injury Road Accidents that occurred on the B818 between its Junction with the A875 near Boquhan and the Crossroads at Carron Bridge

   
Year  
1997 1 
1998 5 
1999 3 
2000 1 
2001 1

Road Accidents

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many road accidents occurred on the B822 between Fintry and the A811 junction near Kippen, in each of the last five years.

Lewis Macdonald: Data about injury road accidents are collected by the police and reported to the Scottish Executive using the STATS 19 statistical report form. These returns cover only road accidents in which one or more people were injured, they do not cover damage only accidents.

  The table below gives the numbers of injury road accidents which were identified in the STATS 19 returns as occurring on the stretch of the B822 between Fintry and its junction with the A811 near Kippen, in the five years 1997 to 2001 inclusive.

  It should be noted that the statistics given below are based upon the data which are held in the central statistical database and which were collected by the police at the time of the accident and subsequently reported to the Executive. They may differ from any figures which the local authority would provide now, because they do not take account of any subsequent changes or corrections that the local authority may have made to the statistical information, for use at local level, about the location of each accident, based upon its knowledge of the road and area concerned.

  Number of Injury Road Accidents that occurred on the B822 between Fintry and its Junction with the A811 near Kippen

  
 Year 
 1997 2
 1998 3
 1999 0
 2000 0
 2001 2

Road Accidents

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many road accidents occurred on the B8075 between the A84 at Blairdrummond and the A811 at Gargunnock in each of the last five years.

Lewis Macdonald: Data about injury road accidents are collected by the police and reported to the Scottish Executive using the STATS 19 statistical report form. These returns cover only road accidents in which one or more people were injured, they do not cover damage only accidents.

  The following table gives the numbers of injury road accidents which were identified in the STATS 19 returns as occurring on the stretch of the B8075 between its junction with the A84 at Blairdrummond and its junction with the A811 at Gargunnock, in the five years 1997 to 2001 inclusive.

  It should be noted that the statistics given below are based upon the data which are held in the central statistical database and which were collected by the police at the time of the accident and subsequently reported to the Executive. They may differ from any figures which the local authority would provide now, because they do not take account of any subsequent changes or corrections that the local authority may have made to the statistical information, for use at local level, about the location of each accident, based upon its knowledge of the road and area concerned.

  Number of Injury Road Accidents that occurred on the B8075 between its Junction with the A84 at Blairdrummond and its Junction with the A811 at Gargunnock

  
 Year 
 1997 1
 1998 0
 1999 0
 2000 0
 2001 0

Road Accidents

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many recorded fatalities and injuries there were on the (a) motorway and (b) trunk road networks in (i) 1999, (ii) 2000 and (iii) 2001.

Lewis Macdonald: The information requested is given in the following tables.

  Motorway Casualties – January 1999 to December 2001

   
Year Fatal
Serious Slight
Total  1999
9 80
550 639
 2000 16
82 564
662  2001
11 71
589 671


  Trunk Road Casualties (excluding motorways) – January 1999 to December 2001

   
Year Fatal
Serious Slight
Total  1999
66 573
2,056 2,695 
2000 100
619 2,009
2,728  2001
80 551
1,956 2,587

Roads

Mr David Davidson (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on trunk road improvements in each of the last three years in each local authority area.

Lewis Macdonald: Information on spending on the strategic road network is not held by local authority area. Detailed information on historic spending on motorways and trunk roads is set out in the annual publication Scottish Transport Statistics . Copies of this are held in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

Sexual Health

Susan Deacon (Edinburgh East and Musselburgh) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what strategy is being developed to tackle the increase in reported cases of chlamydia.

Malcolm Chisholm: Healthy Respect, the national health demonstration project currently running in Lothian, has launched its innovative postal testing kit for chlamydia, which is now available from non-medical settings such as music stores and pharmacies.

  The Executive has funded one recently completed and two on-going studies investigating the feasibility, acceptability and cost-effectiveness of screening for chlamydia in a range of clinical settings and populations.

  I have also recently announced the membership of the group taking forward the development of a national Sexual Health Strategy for Scotland. The strategy will include measures to tackle the rise in sexually transmitted infections, including chlamydia, and to enhance the provision of sexual health services around Scotland.

Sexual Health

Susan Deacon (Edinburgh East and Musselburgh) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what public health initiatives are planned for delivery across Scotland to raise awareness amongst men and women of the need for protection against sexually transmitted diseases.

Malcolm Chisholm: I recently announced our plans for taking forward the development of a national Sexual Health Strategy for Scotland. The strategy will include measures to tackle the rise in sexually transmitted infections and to enhance the provision of sexual health services around Scotland.

  The initiatives undertaken by the Health Education Board for Scotland and NHS boards in the sexual health field will also contribute to the aim of reducing the incidence of sexually transmitted infections.

Social Responsibility

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to provide input to Her Majesty’s Government’s response to the European Commission’s White Paper on Corporate Social Responsibility.

Ms Margaret Curran: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues and does intend to input to the UK Government's response to the European Commission's White Paper on Corporate Social Responsibility.

Tourism

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to create a tourist information stop for motor vehicles at the start of the A84, past the Craigforth roundabout.

Mike Watson: The Scottish Executive has no such plans. If the local authority or the new National Park Authority had proposals these would be subject to approval from the Scottish Executive.